November 13
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure,” 1 John 3:1-3.
What a marvelous revelation! God has bestowed on us His love! And by the power of that love, we have become the children of God! The apostle John wrote, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved,” John 3:16-17.
The love of God is beyond our limited comprehension. God loved us sinners when we were unloving, unlovable, and unlovely! In his Epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul wrote, “Christ died for the ungodly . . . God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life,” Romans 5:6, 8-10. Jesus did not suffer and die to redeem perfect people. He suffered and died to save sinners.
With the hymn writer, we Christians sing and say:
“Jesus sinners doth receive;
Oh, may all this saying ponder,
Who in sin’s delusions live,
And from God and heaven wander!
Here is hope for all who grieve –
Jesus sinners doth receive.
I, a sinner, come to Thee,
With a penitent confession;
Savior, mercy show to me,
Grant for all my sins remission.
Let these words my soul relieve –
Jesus sinners doth receive.”
John adds a sad note: “The world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” We are not the children of the world. Therefore, the world does not know us, just as it did not know Jesus when He came into the world. His own people, the children of Israel, did not know and receive Him. In his Gospel, John wrote, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him,” John 1:11.
We are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. As children of God, we witness to the people of the world. Some receive our witness. The Holy Spirit touches their hearts, and they believe in Jesus as God’s Son and their Savior. Others do not believe.
As children of God, we do not know all the details about what life in heaven will be like. However, this we know: “When He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” Yes, in heaven we shall see Jesus! We shall be with Jesus, and, “God will wipe away every tear from (our) eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away,” Revelation 21:4.
“Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus,
Can my heartfelt longing still;
Lo, I pledge myself to Jesus,
What He wills alone to will.
For my heart, which He hath filled,
Ever cries, ‘Lord, as Thou wilt!’” Amen.